Nitrous Oxide

Current research programme

The current focus of the NZAGRC’s nitrous oxide (N2O) research programme is on measuring the effects pasture plants and pasture plant communities have on nitrous oxide emissions.

This work is closely aligned to the MBIE P21 and Forages for Nitrate Leaching programmes (FRNL). In addition, an investigative project on a technology to locate and treat urine patches was completed in 2015/16.

Principal investigators

Research Stories

Anne Wecking

The opportunity to work with the Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) made it an easy decision for German PhD student Anne Wecking to move to the other side of the world.

“It’s a privilege to work with a piece of technology like this—the way it functions is pretty fancy and its implication on future greenhouse gas inventories might mean we can reconsider our current ways of budgeting the emissions of nitrous oxide.”

Anne’s PhD is about the quantification and mitigation of nitrous oxide emissions from grazed pastures, and is supervised by Professor Schipper.

“The QCL provides us with continuous and precise data about the amount of nitrous oxide present in the surface near atmosphere. In combination with wind data, we can integrate emissions over hectares,” she says. “This is a great technological advance forward, and is helping us to further understand what’s happening on the farm scale.”